AWCON
Burundi, Nigeria’s last group opponents, have WAFCON youngest player
When nine-times champions, Super Falcons take on Burundi on Sunday in one of the two last group matches of WAFCON 2022, their lesser experienced team will be featuring the youngest player of the tournament.
The player is Esperance Habionimana. Tonight’s match may be her last in the series, but she still have many years ahead of her for a potentially fruitful career.
She told BBC of her experience and how she got into football. “I played football but never knew there were women’s teams,” the 15-year-old told BBC Sport Africa.
“I was playing in a men’s team with my brothers because in my mind I never thought there were any women’s teams.”
Now she is part of Burundi at their maiden finals and even though she has failed to feature in the debutants’ first two games, both of which have ended in defeat, she is relishing being in Morocco for the tournament.
“I never thought I would ever get here,” the midfielder says. “I have worked hard, and I was very happy to be selected.”
Habionimana plays for a local side in Burundi’s capital Bujumbura.
Family fortunes
As the youngest in a family of 12, she was introduced into football by her father and brothers who also play the game.
“I used to go out and play with my brothers – I always told them to wake me up if I was asleep when they were heading out and we would go together,” Habionimana narrates.
“One day a lady who had a women’s team saw me playing with the men and asked me to join the women’s team, so she came home and spoke with my parents.”
Habionimana’s excitement at learning about a women’s team was short-lived though, as her mother did not support her daughter’s interest in the beautiful game.
“My mother would say to me – ‘I have never seen women playing football, why are you forcing yourself to play?’,” she recalls.
“She would say she didn’t want me to play football because I would become muscular, but my father would tell her ‘let the child play’.”
“The president of the women’s team came and spoke to my mum and told her that there are women playing football and it is not a bad thing. There are women who have had children and continue with their football career, so my mother gave in and let me play.”
Habionimana’s mother’s scepticism about women playing football is understandable because the women’s game in Burundi is still a fledgling industry.
The country only played their first Fifa-recognised match in 2016 but they have made strides in the last six years after taking advantage of the global body’s financial assistance dedicated to growing the women’s game.
The teenager hopes Burundi’s federation will continue working towards developing women’s football in her country, but Habionimana is already dreaming of taking her talent beyond the borders.
“I hope that I can play my football beyond Burundi because you cannot be successful by staying in one place,” says the teenager.
Playing for Burundi, the tournament’s lowest-rated team (ranked 169 out of 181 Fifa-registered nations), at the Wafcon could go a long way in helping her realise this dream but time, given her tender age, is very much on her side.
Having lost to fellow debutants Botswana 4-2 in their opener, Burundi’s subsequent 3-1 defeat against South Africa, runners-up last time out, was far more expected but still leaves the team on the verge of crashing out.
Nigeria await on Sunday and barring a Burundian miracle against the nine-time – and defending – champions, the match is likely to represent the last time for Habionimana to take to the field in Morocco.
The East Africans’ final group match against Nigeria on Sunday could be Habionimana’s final opportunity for action in this Wafcon but with Burundian women’s football on the rise, it will surely not be her last chance.
BY KUNLE SOLAJA.
Dropping a whopping 69.33 points in the current FIFA rankings, Nigeria’s Super Falcons are adjudged as the team with the biggest drop by points.
Though they remain the first in Africa, their global ranking slumped from 39 in on 17 June to 47 on 5 August.
Their slump could be linked to the performances at the last month’s Women’s Africa Cup of Nations where they played six matches and won just three, a far cry from their previous outings.
They could not also make a podium appearance. Their conquerors in the bronze medal match, Zambia are adjudged to have both the biggest move by points and also by rank when they moved 23 places up the ladder to 80th position.
Winners of WAFCON, South Africa also have impressive move from 58th in the world to 54th.
In Africa, the African queens moved from third position to second.
At global level, US still remain on top in a ranling that took into consideration 221 matches played since 17 June.
CAF has released the Best XI of the 2022 Women’s Africa Cup of Nations following the completion of the history-making tournament in Morocco.
This compilation of players by members of CAF’s Technical Study Group (TSG) brings together the best performers in each position over the last three weeks.
South Africa’s custodian Andile Dlamini, who was named the Best Goalkeeper of the Tournament for her role in guiding Banyana Banyana to victory, starts between the posts. Dlamini kept three clean sheets in the six games her side played and was a leader on and off the pitch.
In a four-woman defensive setup, South Africa’s Bambanani Mbane partners Osinachi Ohale of Nigeria in an enviable pairing that would make many a forward sweat to find the back of the net. Both strong in character provided a protection role for their teams consistently throughout the tournament.
At right back, Zambia’s Margaret Belemu and Zineb Redouani of Morocco who are lethal with and without the ball complete the defense line.
In front of this defensive lineup is the captains’ midfield with Morocco’s Ghizlane Chebbak partnering Grace Chanda from Zambia and Jane Refiloe from South Africa.
The three captains bring a touch of class, an understanding of the game and passing abilities that have the power to change the course and destiny of a game. All three have been nicknamed “conductors”. They take charge and control the ball and make it do as they please. That mastery stood out all tournament – consistently.
Chebbak who was named as the Player of the Tournament was also joint top scorer with three goals.
To complete the fancy 4-3-3 formation, Nigeria’s Rasheedat Ajibade ‘the Blue Haired Girl” also joint top scorer of the tournament with three goals comes in on the right side while Moroccan Fatima Tagnaout brings quality on the left wing and to spice things up, in comes South Africa’s Jermaine Seoposenwe up front to lead the line.
Pace, quick decision-making and an eye for goal is what makes this trio special. With supply from the midfield maestros, scoring goals is as easy as pie.
This 4-3-3 lineup would destroy any opposition in front of them and produce a memorable display of football.
-Cafonline
The Nigeria Football Federation has congratulated Super Falcons’ forward Rasheedat Ajibade for emerging as joint top-scorer of the just-ended 12th Women Africa Cup of Nations finals in Morocco, where the Super Falcons earned a ticket to the FIFA World Cup finals even as the team failed to realize its ambition of a 10th triumph.
NFF General Secretary, Dr Mohammed Sanusi said: “We rejoice with Rahseedat Ajibade for her emergence as joint top-scorer of the tournament and we implore her to continue to show even more prolificity and commitment in the jerseys of club and country. Her three goals surely helped the Super Falcons to win a World Cup ticket. Our team would certainly have been in the Final if not for the incident that led to her expulsion in the semi final match against the host nation.
“She probably would have won the award outright if she finished the game and played one more match.”
Ajibade was ejected after 70 minutes of the semi final against Morocco at the Complexe Prince Moulay Abdellah, with Nigeria already one woman down, and the Falcons played the next 50 minutes (of regulation and extra time) with only nine players, losing in the ensuing penalty shoot-out.
In the third-place match against Zambia on Friday, a fierce shot by Evarine Suzeni Katongo in the 28th minute struck the upright and bounced on the back of hardworking goalkeeper Chiamaka Nnadozie for the only goal of the match, with the Falcons failing to convert any of a slew of chances they created.
Sanusi also congratulated Mimisen Calvin-Onwuka, who played the role of Assistant Referee 1 in the Final match between Morocco and South Africa on Saturday, saying her stellar performance alongside referee Salima Mukansanga from Rwanda did not go unnoticed by the global football community. He urged her to continue to develop herself with available top-level courses and programmes in order to continue her rise to global reckoning.
Meanwhile, Nigeria’s U20 girls, Falconets have continued their preparations for next month’s FIFA U20 Women’s World Cup finals scheduled for Costa Rica. The girls, who have been training in the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja will depart for a one-week training tour in Barranquilla, Colombia, from where the delegation will fly into San Jose for the finals slated for 10th – 28th August.
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